Statistics

What a jerk. The former star of "Numbers" is a little upset his new show is a bomb. Tim Graham reports:

NBC’s series The Playboy Club remains in search of an audience, so some stars are lashing out on Twitter at the Parents Television Council, who’s calling for the show to be cancelled, since it promotes one of the world’s leading pornography brands.

David Krumholtz – who many might remember from CBS’s “Numb3rs”– attacked the PTC on Twitter for “randomly” choosing the Playboy show, but eventually turned to attacking Mormons and Catholics for having “a long history of degrading women.” When someone asked how Catholics currently degrade women, he snapped back “My bad. I should have said little children instead of women.”

Demias Jimerson of Malvern, Ark., is 11 years old — and he’s so good at football that “he’s going to score almost every time he touches the ball,” according to his intermediate school principal, Terri Bryant.

In other words, he’s so good he must be stopped. Because Jimerson runs circles around the other kids on the field, Bryant has decided he’s not allowed to score more than three touchdowns, provided his team has at least a 14-point lead.

I want to tell you about something really good that happened to me tonight, after a day of feeling particularly attacked, for lack of a better word.

First off, let me ask you this: do you believe in spiritual battles? Because I do, and sometimes when I’m having a really rough go of it I stop and ask God for his protection, and sometimes I’ll ask St. Michael the Archangel to defend me in battle and then sometimes I’ll tell Satan in the name of Jesus to leave me alone. As crazy as that might sound to you, it works.

Over at the National catholic Fishwrap, Jamie Manson has flung herself headlong into another error.

I won’t torment you with a fisking of the whole article. Suffice it to say that Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is said to have defended, as Jamie puts it, a “pro-death penalty position” during a speech at Duquesne University’s Law School. What Scalia said was,

“If I thought that Catholic doctrine held the death penalty to be immoral, I would resign. … I could not be a part of a system that imposes it.”

This investigation is long overdue and rather than cries of “partisan politics!” all Americans should be lauding Rep. Stearns bravery. For years, concerns of pro-lifers about Planned Parenthood’s cover-up of sex abuse and use of taxpayer funding have been ignored. And with Planned Parenthood the darling of everyone from fashionable Hollywood stars to our nation’s President, it’s not hard to see why.

University of Notre Dame President John I. Jenkins, CSC, has written an important letter to Secretary of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius regarding the federal requirement for private insurance to cover all contraceptive (and some abortifacient) prescriptions, including sterilization procedures. The "Interim Final Rules on Preventive Services" puts Catholic institutions like Notre Dame between a rock and a hard place, requiring us to cover something to which we are morally opposed, leaving us the choice between eliminating health insurance for students and employees or covering contraceptive and abortifacient drugs. Notre Dame would not be exempted under the conscience clause, because the conscience clause is the narrowest on record, excluding organizations like Notre Dame that serve and employ many non-Catholics.

This just might be the smoking gun we’ve been waiting for to break the festering “Fast and Furious” gun-running scandal wide open: the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives apparently ordered one of its own agents to purchase firearms with taxpayer money, and sell them directly to a Mexican drug cartel.

Let that sink in: After months of pretending that “Fast and Furious” was a botched surveillance operation of illegal gun-running spearheaded by the ATF and the US attorney’s office in Phoenix, it turns out that the government itself was selling guns to the bad guys.

Eighteen Catholic colleges and universities, all marked by their commitment to Catholic identity and fidelity to Catholic teaching, joined today with The Cardinal Newman Society in an appeal to the Obama administration to exempt all religious objectors from a mandate requiring health insurance plans to cover sterilization and contraceptives, including some that cause abortion.

On April 15th, 1912, in the early hours of the morning, the luxury liner the ‘Titanic‘ hit an iceberg and sank in the North Atlantic Ocean. Of the 2240 passengers and crew aboard the vessel, 1514 died that night. One of the main problems was that the vessel did not have near enough life boats. When inquiries happened as to why more life boats were not available, the main reasons were that the builders had such great faith in the technology of the time and had such great faith in the strength of the vessel, that they thought it unnecessary to have the needed number of lifeboats to accommodate the entire manifest of passengers and crews. When the lifeboats were launched that night, many were two thirds full. After the Titanic sank, all but two of the boats went back to pick up any survivors whose groans could be heard in the now stillness of the night. Many died that night of hypothermia in the ice cold waters of the North Atlantic. While many would not be able to be saved, some could have been, but as the majority of lifeboats stayed away, we will never know who would have survived after being pulled out of the water.

Chris Christie gave an impressive speech at the Reagan Library last night. But by far the most interesting moment was an exchange from the question and answer session.Chris Christie

A woman in the audience asked: “You know how to tell the American people what they need hear. I really mean this with all my heart. We can’t wait another four years, I really implore you as a citizen of this country, to please, sir, reconsider. Don’t even say anything tonight, of course you wouldn’t, go home and really think about it. Please, sir, your country needs you.”

Owners of popular conservative websites have increasing reason to be concerned their sites may be hacked or otherwise physically attacked for political reasons. Traditionally, hackers took an anarchist approach that primarily targeted government websites. Lately, they are assailing politically conservative websites. Many of these newer attacks are coming from hackers associated with Wikileaks. Some libertarian conservatives defend Wikileaks’ business of leaking government documents, unaware that its affiliates are hypocritically trying to silence them. In addition to wreaking technical havoc, hackers have figured out they can use Google’s strict policy against deceptive website tactics to keep conservative websites hidden from the internet for long periods of time.

You want a quick and easy introduction to media bias? Just look at the reception given to author Ron Suskind when he appeared on NBC's "Today" show recently to promote his new book, "Confidence Men," which is critical of President Obama -- and then compare it to the reception Suskind received in 2004 when he appeared on "Today" to tout another book, "The Price of Loyalty," which was critical of President George W. Bush.

There’s nothing like daily prayer time. Over and over again, I’ve found that when I make the necessary sacrifices to structure my schedule around prayer (instead of vice versa), my small efforts are repaid tenfold by the tremendous graces I receive.

But I can’t always get there. I usually blame it on not having time, though that excuse is a little suspect since I always manage to find abundant time to mess around on the internet. Anyway, whether it’s due to laziness, fatigue, a lack of faith, being overwhelmed, truly not having time, or some combination of all of the above, there are seasons when regular prayer time just doesn’t happen.

Kyle Blaine of The College Fix has been covering Vanderbilt University’s attack on religious freedom–the school is trying to force Christian groups to alter their membership rules. Now the story has floated up to Fox News.

When my daughter started first grade, I asked her if she was enjoying school. After her answer to the affirmative, I inquired what she liked most. “Recess” was her response. I pointed out that she has “recess” at home all the time, so why was that her favorite?

One-hit pop singer Sinead O'Connor has been treated like a dignitary on MSNBC by Rachel Maddow and promoted as a moralist by The Huffington Post in her recent and vicious attacks on the Catholic Church. Now, she's not saying she's holier than the Pope. She's saying she'll shoot him in a "f***in bloodbath." Let's hope Sinead hasn't made any anti-bullying videos.

It's the same ol' story. Guy meets chaste girl. Guy tries to win her heart summoning demons and using black magic. Guy converts. They both become saints. Taylor Marshall has the grown up version:

In the old calendar, today is the feast day of Saint Cyprian and Saint Justina.

Cyprian was a practitioner of the dark arts in Antioch who sought the aid of demons in his craft. He fell into a lustful fit overa beautiful young lady named Justina. Justina, however, was a consecrated Catholic virgin with little interest in a creepy magician.

If you judge by the commercials, there are a number of good talent-based options. America’s Got Talent indicates that it’s a family-friendly show geared toward finding diamonds in the rough. The new X Factor is advertised as a place where the under-employed and under-appreciated can finally get a chance to shine. The Sing Off is just like the others, but without instruments.

That’s the reputation that Wallace Kuralt built as Mecklenburg County’s welfare director from 1945 to 1972. Today, the building where Charlotte’s poor come for help bears his name – a name made even more prominent when his newscaster son, Charles Kuralt, rose to fame.

In case anyone’s still bitterly clinging to the “botched sting” theory of this clusterfark, cling no longer:

According to documents obtained by Fox News, Agent John Dodson was ordered to buy six semi-automatic Draco pistols — two of those were purchased at the Lone Wolf gun store in Peoria, Ariz. An unusual sale, Dodson was sent to the store with a letter of approval from David Voth, an ATF group supervisor.

Dodson then sold the weapons to known illegal buyers, while fellow agents watched from their cars nearby.

I was wondering if it was possible for a natural miscarriage to be a sin. The doctors couldn’t tell me why it happened, but statistically miscarriages are more likely when the mother is obese, as I am/was. And while I never intended the miscarriage to happen, I am clearly responsible both for my weight and the act of becoming pregnant. Ought I to confess it? And since it deals with such a grave issue as human life, is it a mortal sin?

It's five o'clock. You've opted for going to the evening mass so everyone can be there so it must be time for every one's favorite pew time pastime, "Who's got Mom?"

In a twist for our contestants, Mom drove, ergo the original strategies of several key players has been scrapped. They'll be stuck in whatever alignment Dad puts them in the pew and have to wait for the chance to strike. It requires a rethinking of strategies as normally, the kindergartner opts for Virtue child, having Mom hold the misselette so she can follow along; muscling out the four year old who thinks the best method is to declare "huggie time."

The criminal law in Australia holds that the intentional taking of human life is a major criminal offence. This accords with the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to which Australia is a signatory, which declares that the right to the integrity of every person's life is equal, inherent, inviolable, inalienable and should be protected by law.

Anything below 40% is not an indicator that hardcore Dems will vote GOP but I think it's more an indicator that they won't be as excited and turnout will be weak.

Crash and burn.

This week’s Economist/YouGov Poll is full of bad news for President Barack Obama. The frontrunners for the GOP nomination in the 2012 contest are pulling very close to him in head-to-head matchups, and his approval rating has been at or near the lowest levels of his Presidency for the last few weeks. And the worrisome economy keeps it there: this week just 36% approve of the way he is handing his job overall, the lowest rating ever in the two and a half years of his Presidency. ﻿More than half the public — 56% — disapproves of the President’s performance.

I have always thought that Hollywood is missing a chance to make millions. They just simple need to film the life of a large family, embellish the facts and you would have side splitting comedy. It gets even better when you add ‘Catholic’ and ‘Homeschooled’ and ‘Grew up on a Ranch’ to the mix. Although I am not a fan of Steve Martin’s version of Cheaper by the Dozen, It was a priceless, classic moment in a large family when he was trying most unsuccessfully to have a quiet phone conversation. Want someone to suddenly get murdered? (Well there must be a serious reason for the ear-splitting screams.) Pick up the phone.

Just in case you are reading this and you are not a homeschooling mom, kid, grandma, aunt, dad, or member of the support staff of a homeschooling family, here is a word from one who is.

It seems that there are quite a few people out there that are under the impression that homeschoolers really aren't doing anything all day, and so they are available for doctors appointments, dentist appointments, babysitting, volunteer work, and lots of other non-academic activities that take place during regular school hours.

Over the past few months, this blog has been posting updates to the story about College of Mount Saint Vincent and one of its adjunct sociology instructors, Bianca Laureano. This College employee has on several occasions publicly espoused positions opposed to Catholic moral teachings on the websites of pro-abortion organizations.

I knew there was a catch. Peter Singer opined that broadening health care coverage is an important public good. (I agree, but it is not a “right.” Nor, is Obamacare the correct approach. But those are not the subjects of this post.)

Being a utilitarian who advocates valuing the lives of some over those of others (“quality of life” ethic), Singer doesn’t really support “universal” access. First, the give with one hand part; From the Daily Princetonian story:

The National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) group sounded the alarm Thursday about new media outlets such as Facebook, Google and Apple, which they say have written policies that violate the fundamental rules of free expression, particularly concerning religious free speech.

Senator Barbara Boxer is in a tough situation: she thinks there are too many children in the developing world, she thinks abortion and contraception are the answer to this problem, and she has to try to convince the majority of Americans who are deeply offended by her views that she actually wants something good and just.

So what’s a busy, far-left California Democrat supposed to do? It’s not as if she can just come out and say that the mothers of Asia, Africa and Latin America are having more children then she would prefer. There must be a way to “spin” this.

How about recasting population control as “free speech” and “democracy promotion?”

Just after the inauguration for President Barack Obama, Robert George and several of his friends, Hadley Arkes, Michael New, Teresa Collett and Gerard Bradley to name just a few, started a website called Moral Accountability that was designed to track the moral calculus of the Obama administration. They founded it because they wanted to show the Catholics and Evangelicals who voted for Obama that there are consequences to their actions.

Pro-aborts who were videotaped last week have lawyered up to force Ryan Bomberger and CampusReform.org to remove the video. Jill Stanek has the letter and Bomberger's response:

Cease and desist… not

I posted a story and video last week about a mostly white Georgia State University pro-abortion protest group shouting down a black woman at a pro-life event with the ironic words, “Trust black women!”

Now an attorney for the students – who took it upon themselves to organize a public protest at a public university – has ordered Ryan Bomberger of TooManyAborted.com to “cease and desist” – take that video down.

You have to wonder what kind of bubble surrounds East Rutherford, New Jersey that manages to keep the city isolated from the news of the world. I could sometimes wish for such protective isolation for myself.

Wednesday, North Jersey.com staff writer Deon J. Hampton revealed that Robert Russell, the music minister at St. Joseph in East Rutherford for 22 years, has decided to give two weeks’ notice. On July 10th, Russell was surprised and dismayed to learn from a homily pastor Fr. Joseph Astarita gave that the Catholic Church doesn’t accept even the concept of same-sex marriage. And when he confronted Fr. Astarita to reveal that he is gay and has been with a single partner for 15 years, the pastor had the temerity to suggest that Russell could change his orientation through reparative therapy, and to express concern about his involvement with a yet-to-be-formed children’s choir (“allegedly [telling] him he would be a ‘poor example’”).

After an extensive search, Christians in the Bakool region of southwestern Somalia discovered the decapitated body of kidnapped Christian Juma Naradin Kamil on Sept. 2, 2011. Kamil’s body reportedly bore the marks of an execution by the Muslim terrorist group al-Shabab.

Being a little too cute with his words, methinks. Adrienne has the full quote and her reaction:

A recent article posted at the Blaze, Have Alinsky Political Operatives Infiltrated Cleveland’s Christian, Jewish & Muslim Faith Communities? was posted a day before the newest Vortex with Michael Voris was put online. (posted below) Michael examines an article published in the Gonzaga University newspaper which is rife with misrepresentations of the Catholic faith. Most disturbing are some of the statements made by Fr. Craig Hightower, S.J., director of University Ministry at Gonzaga, concerning what the church teaches about homosexuality.

Twenty years ago, NBC's "Today" devoted three days of interviews to the insufferable Kitty Kelley, who unspooled baseless allegations against Nancy Reagan, like her supposed love affair with Frank Sinatra. That kind of tabloid bilge belched back up the garbage disposal on Sept. 16, when "Today" promoted the new Palin-bashing book "The Rogue," by leftist author Joe McGinniss.

If you've been longing for another deceptive, nagging lecture from President Obama, you're in luck! Yesterday he delivered a twenty-minute finger-wagging harangue from the Rose Garden, working himself up into a lather over those who aren't "doing their fair share" to feed a level of government spending that can't be described without resorting to the language of astrophysics.

A few days back I saw the following posting on Facebook, which I reposted, and have thought a great deal about consequently: " We need to teach our daughters how to distinguish between a man who flatters her and a man who compliments her .... a man who spends money on her and a man who invests in her .... a man who views her as property and a man who views her properly ..... a man who lusts after her and a man who loves her ..... a man who believes he is God's gift to women and a man who remembers a woman was God's gift to man.....And we need to teach our boys to be THAT man.” It captured a pre-occupation that I have had for several years now. We live in a society that teaches our young men that women are something to be manipulated into sexual activity, dominated in life, and discarded when it is no fun anymore.

This Sept. 11 marks a milestone decade. Massive news coverage – reliving the horror captured in 2001 images – is sure to reopen old wounds. Time is an odometer, measuring the emotional distance between the tragedy and one’s healing. Individually, where is one’s sense of personal anger, fear and racial hatred today?

For many, it remains a great challenge to overcome bitterness. Yet Proverbs 14:10 reads, “Each heart knows its own bitterness, and no one else can fully share its joy.” It means that an angry, resentful person can never know joy fully again. She won’t let anyone into her life. He has built a wall too high to scale.

A while back, I asked my very frustrated mother-in-law why she voted for Barack Obama, and she shrugged, “I could only go by what I heard.”

She meant the nightly network news shows, which she and Pop watch or listen to while they bustle around the kitchen.

It didn’t matter that a sister-in-law and I had both warned her that Obama was inexperienced or that she might not like his policies. We were not the press. We were not the people who write headlines and speak with solemn surety before microphones; we were not invested with the authority of an established public trust.

A long, long time ago, in a galaxy frightfully near, when I was caught in the awkward throes of middle-school, Black Metal and Death Metal were where it was at. In fairness, I attended a British military school in Germany, which sort of implies dysfunction. But regardless, a good number of my friends were infatuated with growing their hair and dying it black, painting their nails, doing drugs, getting schwasted, wearing dead/dying/skeletal/demonic guitar players on their t-shirts, and rocking their satanic symbols; for what's metal without corporate merchandise? Oh, how the warm memories return. There was the pentagram, the anarchy sign, the various nordic runes - which they assured me all meant Very Evil Things - and, of course, the upside-down cross. I was only a little larval-stage Catholic, but even then I knew the upside-down cross was funny. "Oh hey, upside-down cross. Real satanic guys, real scary and evil. Really sets off your brooding, church-burning hatred of weak Christian values. Christians everywhere tremble when they...oh wait."

One year ago today I delivered my son, a stillborn. For a moment he was placed in my arms quiet, blue, and limp. The midwife and her assistant then took him from me and began CPR. They could not find a pulse. He did not breathe. Because we were at home (it was my third, planned homebirth) 911 was called.

Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley urged the Catholic legal community yesterday to oppose a ballot petition that would make physician-assisted suicide legal in Massachusetts, reaffirming the church’s stance on end of life care.

One night during the summer of 1989, I was over at my friend Del Rendon’s house. We both lived in Starkville, Mississippi. We also both played guitar. After playing half the songs in the Led Zeppelin acoustic catalogue, we started to talk. Del tried to convince me to start playing music for a living with my friend Shannon who is an enormously talented vocalist. Shannon was also over at Del’s house that night so we both heard an earful of compliments from our kind and humble friend.

Over at the very fine Accepting Abundance blog, authored by Stacy Trasancos, a rather remarkable display of hatefulness has erupted in the combox. Now just guess what the issue might be that has generated this storm of protest against a Catholic blogger on a Catholic blog. Sure enough it was the issue of homosexuality.

The Obamas gives taxpayer money and they get donations to their causes like Michelle's "Urban Health Initiative." You gotta' problem widdat?

A Daily Caller review of the George Kaiser Family Foundation’s income tax returns found that during the same year billionaire investor George Kaiser successfully secured $535 million in government loan guarantees for the now-failed solar panel manufacturer Solyndra, his private philanthropy donated to a political cause close to the hearts of several high-ranking Obama administration officials.

The right to film police officers in the course of their official duties is a common sense defense for citizens against the one-sided power of the badge and all the force of the state which stands behind it. Despite – or perhaps because of – this fact, many police officers routinely harass, intimidate or assault citizens who film them in action, and corrupt DA’s charge them for violating unconstitutional interpretations of wiretapping laws, which were never intended to protect civil servants acting in public.

It is against this backdrop that a recent ruling by an Illinois judge should be seen as a victory for basic civil liberties.

If only we could eradicate competition in the mommyhood. Oh! the friendships there would be. Oh! the work that would get done. Oh! the creativity unleashed. Oh! the peace that comes of knowing we are well loved.

Instead we compare. And we compete. And in so doing we defeat ourselves and our neighbors. What a huge waste of potential. What a thwarting of God's will.

I'm surprised this study saw the light of day, much less getting exposure in Time Magazine:

In some cases, home schooling may give kids a leg up on their public-school peers, finds a small, new study published in the Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science.

As long as it's structured and follows a set curriculum, home schooling may actually lead to better scores on tests of math and reading, compared with public schooling, say the researchers from Concordia University and Mount Allison University in Canada.

The researchers studied 74 children aged 5 to 10 living in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick: 37 kids were schooled at home, and the other 37 attended local public schools. Each child was asked to complete standardized tests of reading, writing and math.

Researchers found that the public-school kids tested at or above their grade levels, but home-schooled children tested even higher than that — about a half-grade higher in math and 2.2 grades in reading, compared with the traditionally educated children.

Because if you don't celebrate Chaz Bono you're probably going to beat up a gay person after super sizing your McRib sandwich at McD's.

Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly is going to earn an award from LGBT activists for getting vein-popping angry on The O’Reilly Factor Thursday that psychiatrist Dr. Keith Ablow would dare to suggest parents may want to flip the remote away from “transgender” activist Chaz Bono on ABC’s Dancing With the Stars on Monday.

Who said Fox News was the right-wing channel? There was Kelly, insisting to O’Reilly that Dr. Ablow’s warning on Foxnews.com against Bono's show was going to lead to violence from American wackos at the McDonald’s.

Says black people should be getting more from Obama. Weasel Zippers reports:

Would Smiley then suggest a white president should “look out for” fellow white Americans?

(RCP) — Tavis Smiley says the President is ignoring blacks, the “most loyal” part of his base who “ought to be looked out for.” Smiley spoke to NBC’s Lester Holt. In April, Smiley said the 2012 elections will be “the most racist in the history of this Republic.

This week on his television show Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson said a man would be morally justified to divorce his wife with Alzheimer’s disease in order to marry another woman. The dementia-riddled wife is, Robertson said, “not there” anymore. This is more than an embarrassment. This is more than cruelty. This is a repudiation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

One day in 1936, in Marianna, Ark., teenager Joseph Lyon was sitting on the porch of his older brother's general store when a horse galloped up. The local boys clamored around to spook the horse, but Lyon was spooked by its rider, Ann Duke, "the prettiest girl in the world," he would say. Three years her senior, he dubbed her "Kiddo," and she called him "Jody."

They met again a short time later at a dance and quickly fell in love, married in a matter of months. "Til death do us part," they promised each other, though when death came this week they refused to be separated.

A little more than 24 hours after Ann passed on Tuesday, at 93, Joseph passed on Wednesday, at 96, both of natural causes, in side-by-side hospital beds set up in the living room they had shared since 1960.

Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, has said that if his bishop does not allow him to return to full-time pro-life work, he will consider being incardinated in a different diocese or founding a religious order to continue his pro-life ministry.

The well-known pro-life priest also said that he had been actively talking with Bishop Patrick J. Zurek of Amarillo, Texas for months about spending more time in the diocese before the bishop forbid him from ministry outside of the diocese.

Dear readers, today is my birthday and on this day 18 mothers are scheduled to have their unborn children killed at the Planned Parenthood in Columbia, MO – just 25 miles from my home. A pretty unsettling thought as I celebrate the gift of my own life.

In 25 days our lives will change forever. In 25 days, the past 25 years will flash before our eyes and Cristina Rivera and Andrew Pocta,as we once knew them to be, will no longer exist. We are about to begin living the most radical lifestyle this world knows – a lifestyle that revolves around a life-long commitment, constantly open to life and to the sacrifice of one’s will for the good of the other. We are about to take up our cross together….in a way that we never knew before.

At a meeting today with Vatican officials, including the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s Cardinal William Levada, leaders of the Society of St. Pius X were given a “doctrinal preamble” detailing principles of the Catholic faith to which assent must be given in order for the traditionalist group to achieve reconciliation with the Catholic Church.

In the immediate aftermath of the attacks of September 11, 2001, one of the few places it was controversial to display the American flag — a symbol of unity in that terrifying time — was on America’s college campuses.

President Barack Obama’s plan to raise taxes on charitable donations by the wealthy is unlikely to pass in Congress, but sector executives say many nonprofit advocacy groups plan to rally against it regardless for fear that Congress will eventually grab funds now donated to charities.

Ick. That's a bad week. Sherry has an idea for 10 Things to do when 7 are down with strep.

To avoid getting what everyone is coughing up, (which naturally, being Mom, I tend to stoop to catch), I have determined a few coping devices for the primary caregiver to all minors with unhealthy germs to share.

10) Burn all clothing after wear. Given that this will reduce your laundry load, it might be a more permanent solution to the issues of children not putting away clothing or dropping their dirties in a laundry basket. However, the HOA and EPA might object.

It’s sad to say, but freedom has been relegated to “flavor of the month” status for years now. Not freedom as our Founding Fathers thought it, but freedom as same-sex couples, pro-abortion activists, and those disillusioned with Western Civilization mistakenly think of it.

In other words, it’s not an ordered freedom based on the sound footing of natural law, but an abstract freedom based on the whims and desires of fickle men and women who have concurred with the maxim that “freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.”

Won’t be long before we hear someone on MSNBC ranting and raving about Perry being a “religious fanatic” and “Christian Taliban.”

(Ballot Box) — Republican presidential candidate and Texas Gov. Rick Perry used his speech to a packed audience at the conservative evangelical Liberty University to discuss his own faith – and to call for more Christian influence on America.

A humorous, albeit stacked, debate. The video does illuminate one facet of the American political scene. Educated conservatives tend to be more familiar with liberal arguments than educated liberals are with conservative arguments. The reason for this is quite simple. Conservatives who have been to college have exposed themselves to an institution that is overwhelmingly liberal.

Public school teachers with unacceptable English pronunciation and grammar are being protected by the Obama Administration, which has forced one state to eliminate a fluency monitoring program created to comply with a 2002 federal education law.

The source is sober, academic, practically irrefutable: the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Its latest analysis of the sex lives of Americans age 15 to 44 includes a startling finding: Virginity is increasing among teens and young adults in the U.S.

This Friday, September 16, Fordham University in New York is scheduled to host the first installment of the “More than a Monologue” conference series, described on its website as a collaboration between four universities “to change the conversation about sexual diversity and the Catholic Church.” Two of the co-sponsors, Fordham and Fairfield Universities, are Jesuit, Catholic institutions.

Paul Krugman wasn’t the only old soul at The New York Times who refused any urge to be patriotic on September 11. Former Times reporter Chris Hedges unleashed a tirade on Truthdig on Saturday. It was titled: “A Decade After 9/11: We Are What We Loathe.” He began by suggesting coverage of 9/11 was sanitized by the Bush "lap dogs" of the press because the occasion “demanded images and stories of resilience, redemption, heroism, courage, self-sacrifice and generosity, not collective suicide in the face of overwhelming hopelessness and despair.”

A comment to an expecting mom recently made me chuckle. Past-her-due-date Mother: This baby better come soon! Commenter: Enjoy your days of quiet and rest while they last!

It made me remember my own days of hearing, for the umpteenth time from store clerks, "Wow, you're just ready to pop now, honey!" During the last, heavy days of my pregnancy with Baby J, I sat down (with a thud, I'm sure) and created a "couple's last hurrah" list for Sean and I, ensuring that we enjoyed doing everything we couldn't do once the baby arrived.

Many of China's churches are overflowing, as the number of Christians in the country multiplies. In the past, repression drove people to convert - is the cause now rampant capitalism?

It is impossible to say how many Christians there are in China today, but no-one denies the numbers are exploding.

The government says 25 million, 18 million Protestants and six million Catholics. Independent estimates all agree this is a vast underestimate. A conservative figure is 60 million. There are already more Chinese at church on a Sunday than in the whole of Europe.

Jennifer, I also think there’s a political angle to the idea of self-importance and raising children. I live in Tennessee, and if my daughter came home from school and said, “I am the smartest kid in my whole class,” I would probably answer by saying something like, “There’s no need to put down your friends.”

My liberal Philadelphia friend Rene would take a very difference approach. If her son came home bragging about his grades, she’d tell her son, “Yes, Ethan, you’re a very smart boy, and you can do anything you set your mind to.”

Sperm donors have hundreds of children which creates of some very awkward situations. Chelsea writes:

The whole IVF/artificial insemination social experiment has been a process of putting the whosyodaddy.pngdesires of adults over the best interest of children. Latest case in point: this week, the New York Times reported that the grossly under-regulated and greedy fertility industry has been allowing dozens of women to use the sperm of the same donor. At least one man has fathered more than one hundred offspring through his sperm donation. 150, to be exact – that they know of – and he may not be the only one. The result is hundreds of half-siblings who not only don’t know anything about their biological father, but don’t know each other, which could cause some awkward social situations:

It has become more common place that infertile couples are using IVF to create embryos and then hiring surrogate mothers to carry those embryos. Most surrogacy agreements require payment to the surrogate mother which can cost anywhere from $30,000 to $100,000 USD. Western couples are looking for cheaper options. Many are now turning to women from third world countries to carry their IVF embryos.

Now between the Pope not approving the use of condoms, the Bishops not saying that gay marriage is cool, World Youth Day and everything else, I've been reading a good deal of media coverage on the Catholic Church. Being an intuitive human being, I couldn't help but notice some patterns in this coverage. Thus, in an effort to help the new journalist about to concoct his first article about the Church, I have developed a template for the perfect article to report on any Catholic event. It's foolproof, people.

While surveying the landscape for inroads to push the homosexual agenda into Poland, American embassy officials under the Obama administration complained that the Catholic Church teaching is a major source of “homophobia” in the heavily Catholic country, according to private cables recently published by Wikileaks.

The cables from the American embassy in Warsaw, marked “sensitive but unclassified,” were part of a dump of over 250,000 official government documents last week by Wikileaks.

Cardinal Rigali and Eminent Cardinals; Monsignor Lantheaume, brother bishops, priests and deacons; Lt. Gov. Cawley, Mayor Nutter and esteemed leaders of the civic community; beloved seminarians; fellow religious; members of my family; brothers and sisters in Christ, and most especially the faithful of the archdiocese of Philadelphia:

A married man -- a friend -- told me last week that getting together for today reminded him of planning for a very, very, very big wedding. He was being humorous, but he was actually more accurate than he knew. The relationship of a bishop and his local Church -- his diocese -- is very close to a marriage. The ring I wear is a symbol of every bishop’s love for his Church. And a bishop’s marriage to the local Church reminds me, and all of us who serve you as bishops, that a bishop is called to love his Church with all his heart, just as Christ loved her and gave his life for her.

If you thought that something as innocuous as putting up 3,000 American flags on school grounds to pay tribute to those murdered on September 11 couldn’t be controversial, you haven’t been to Marietta College.

Administrators at this liberal arts college in southeast Ohio are threatening to cancel a 9/11 memorial planned by their students if flags from other countries are not observed in the activities as well

So much became daily business-as-usual while working at an abortion clinic year after year: the tears, the shouting parents and boyfriends, the drivers who accompanied abortion patients who said they were “going out for a cigarette” and then disappeared and abandoned the pregnant mother they’d brought in, the jokes in the lunchroom about the one who showed up with multiple other kids in tow. (We did not allow children in the waiting room. Ever.)

I met a man in Nashville when I was 20 years old and fell in love immediately. By the second date, I knew I’d marry him if he asked me. Within a few short weeks, he did just that — so spontaneously he didn’t even have a ring. Three months later, we were in France, buying flowers off the street from a vendor and getting married in the upstairs room of a restaurant. We barely knew each other, and some of the ceremony was in French. We either got married or agreed to be Amway sales reps.

After 9/11, the actor who looks like Smeagol, rejoined his fire company.

The last action hero (you’d ever imagine)

STEVE BUSCEMI looks like JOHN WATERS got TB and had a baby with an alien.

That’s probably why he’s never been cast as a firefighter. Who would have guessed that, in real life, Buscemi is a volunteer firefighter. One who promptly hooked up with his old crew right after 9/11 to lend a hand.

(Independent) — During a recent retreat featuring a cast of influential conservatives, Texas Gov. Rick Perry announced his support for a controversial Ohio bill seeking to prohibit abortions at the first identified heartbeat, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.

Anti-abortion rights activist Janet Folger Porter and her group Faith2Action have lobbied heavily for the bill, in hopes of rolling back parts of Roe v. Wade, as the American Independent previously reported.

Lots of words have been and will be written for the tenth anniversary of 9/11, but Wilfred McClay has set a very high standard of courage, clarity, and eloquence with his "Memorializing September 11th." It's in the forthcoming issue of National Affairs, and is now available on their website. Here's a sample—but, really, do read the whole thing:

“The fact that there is still so little consensus about the meaning of events so momentous and terrible, and so plainly injurious to the national life, has to be taken as an ominous sign about where we stand as a people….

Hey kids, hear about the latest rage? It’s “Tea Party Zombies Must Die” an exciting new first-person shooter “Advergame.” Here’s how it’s described:

DON’T GET TEA-BAGGED! The Tea Party zombies are walking the streets of America. Grab your weapons and bash their rotten brains to bits! Destroy zombie Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, Glenn Beck, the Koch Brothers, and many more!

Don’t believe the hype? I took the game for a whirl and managed to snag some choice screenshots. Here’s some of the graffiti that appears inside the “trailer park” level.

When the Washington Post promoted snippets from Michael Moore's forthcoming book on Sunday, they portrayed Moore as a "lifelong Catholic" -- which is a bit of a strange label when a paragraph later, the Post was bashing the "uterus police" who oppose abortion as "really, really weird."

But then, the "Catholic" blurb the Post picked let Moore imagine himself as a playwright composing an "avant-garde" version of Jesus dying on the cross, where he lectured like a liberal about how nobody else had compassion for the poor, the sick, and the downtrodden:

I recently finished the fascinating book The War of Art by bestselling author Steven Pressfield, which is a sort of field guide to spiritual warfare. He goes through practical tactics for defeating what he calls “Resistance,” i.e. the malevolent force that works to prevent anything good from happening in the world (what a Christian might call “the devil” or “the enemy.”) In the section called Resistance and Self-Dramatization, Pressfield writes:

A thirteen-year-old girl — let’s call her Karen — was an ordinary youngster who enjoyed playing soccer. But her life took an ugly turn when her soccer coach seduced her and got her pregnant. Without the knowledge of Karen’s parents, the coach took Karen to a Planned Parenthood clinic in Ohio and paid for her abortion. Planned Parenthood staffers asked no questions, despite the fact that Karen was scarcely out of childhood.

Not too long ago I came across a news piece on the mission of Barbara Harris, a woman who started a group called Project Prevention which offers $300 cash to drug addicts if they agree to get on “long term” birth control. According to their most recent statistics, they have paid 3,848 addicts, with tubal ligation as the number one birth control option chosen.

On airplanes, I dread the conversation with the person who finds out I am a minister and wants to use the flight time to explain to me that he is "spiritual but not religious." Such a person will always share this as if it is some kind of daring insight, unique to him, bold in its rebellion against the religious status quo.

Next thing you know, he's telling me that he finds God in the sunsets. These people always find God in the sunsets. And in walks on the beach. Sometimes I think these people never leave the beach or the mountains, what with all the communing with God they do on hilltops, hiking trails and . . . did I mention the beach at sunset yet?

There’s a heartwarming story this week in the Chicago Sun-Times about Amanda Schulten, a 21-year old woman from Marengo, Illinois, who is seven months pregnant with conjoined twin daughters, whom she has already named Faith and Hope.

In spite of her daughters’ very low chance of survival, Amanda’s Catholic faith guides her to believe that there is no other option but to let nature its course.

It took a few weeks before I got the alarm code to our clinic. I guess it takes that long for them to trust you. I remember getting the code and feeling shocked. The code was 2229. That seems innocent…until they told me what it spelled out…BABY. Really. Wow. We were really joking about that…our alarm code was mocking the murder of children.

A few weeks later I was introduced to our freezer in the POC (products of conception) lab. This was the freezer that held the fetal tissue until the biohazard truck came for disposal. I found out the name for that freezer…the nursery. Again, that was a joke. How had that become a joke?

Father Krzysztof faced what seemed like an insurmountable dilemma. The Roman Catholic missionary had a tough time getting the permission and the cash needed to build a permanent place of worship in Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula.

So, he did what any other innovative religious leader would: He teamed up with his friend Robert Wojcik, an inflatable toy maker, to construct a temporary (and, yes, inflatable) church for his congregation.

President Barack Obama will honor NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson and the 11 other Chase drivers from last year in a White House ceremony on Wednesday — but nearly half of the 2010 playoff contenders won’t be there.

Wednesday on CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight, Morgan interviewed GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum. The host spent considerable time on Santorum's views on homosexuality. Confirming the candidate is a Catholic, Morgan asked if he believes homosexuality is a sin. Santorum stated he subscribes to his Church's teaching that it is. Morgan asked how Santorum would react to learning one of his sons is gay and after listening to his response:

If you’re wondering what the next big thing is now that Harry Potter has laid down his wand, you’re already behind the curve. The braces-and-acne set has moved on to Suzanne Collins’s post-apocalyptic trilogy “The Hunger Games.” With Lionsgate adapting the best-selling novels into a trio of movies beginning next spring, the blogosphere hangs breathless on every casting tidbit and new photo. MTV even hyped a teaser trailer for the movie during its youth-targeted Video Music Awards on Sunday night.

Mother Angelica's health remains stable. Her vital signs are good, she eats well, and she retains her strong grip. She likes to catch hold of the Sisters' hands when they visit her, but we've all learned to beware of what she can do to the fingers when she takes your hand!